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Day 73 – soda springs

So surprisingly I didn’t sleep very well. It was very hot and the wind was whistling and I kept hearing strange creaks and noises from the hut which you don’t get in a tent. So I was up at 6am (much to growlers displeasure!). Went to visit Kens place (the toilet tower!)…

A poo with a view…

I hiked the 5.5 miles to highway 40/Donner Pass in 1hr 50mins. Pleased with that. There was a slight breeze and it wasn’t too hot yet so I got there at 8:30am. Not a lot of traffic on the road at that time!

Donner Pass is famous because a group of American pioneers known as the Donner party passed through here in 1846 on there way from Illinois (I think) to California. 87 started but only 48 survived the journey and it is believed that they resorted to cannibalism to survive (but they not not have).

When Growler arrived we led down on the parking area for a bit and then decided to try and hitch after talking to a nice cyclist. We put out our thumbs about 6 times but no one wanted to pick us up. Then a couple came back to their car and asked us if we wanted a ride, they weren’t going our way but as it was only 3 miles away they will take us to Soda Springs. So nice of them. They were really interested in what we were doing and we spoke a lot about what we were going to eat. When we got to the store they gave us $20 to get us started with lunch. SO NICE!

We were going to go to the restaurant but they are closed on a Wednesday. Closed. On a Wednesday!! So we had food at the deli within the store which was actually really nice. A litre of soda satisfied the craving. Then, we were just lounging around outside the store delaying going back to the trail, and two people asked us if we needed a ride to the trial. Ok! So we hopped in and went back to the trail.

We saw Stinger and Stummy about to head into Truckee and we carried on along the trail. So so so hot.

We made it the 4 miles to a rest area off the I80 (the interstate) where we agreed to meet and I found growler sat in the rest room building where it was cool. We sat in there for 3 hours waiting out the heat of the day, there was water in there, toilets and sockets where we charged our stuff. We could live here.

So many people asked us if we were PCT hikers and asked us loads of questions, we saw 4 other hikers come in to escape the heat! There isn’t a lot separating me from a tramp right now, although I’m not begging for food or money, I really smell and all my possessions are in one bag. But seeing all these ‘normal’ people come in, in their clean nice clothes, carrying handbags and getting in their fancy cars doesn’t interest me at all. I don’t miss normal life. I like this one.

I saw myself in the mirror and almost didn’t recognise myself. I seem to have lost a lot of weight over the past couple of weeks. I’ve lost some chins. My arms are less chunky. My love handles are tiny. I don’t even have to hold in my stomach to make it flat. My boobs have shrunk and I’m half way to getting a thigh gap! It’s a good and bad thing. Good that I’ve lost all the weight I had put on before I came here. Bad that I still have a long time left and can’t keep losing this much weight. Trouble is, I think I’m really hungry then I go to eat and find out my stomach is the size of a peanut.
We finally hiked out just after 3pm. 3.5 miles to the Peter Grubb hut. So so so hot. We get there and who do we find? Ladies Man! We stay a while and eat dinner and catch up. The hut is really cool. Both this hut and the Benson hut from yesterday are maintained by the Sierra Club.

We all leave the hut about 6pm, we have another 6 miles to the agreed camp and it’s through a beautiful mosquito infested hell! I have been bitten so many times and they insist on biting me through my KT tape. Normally they don’t attack you when you’re walking, just when you stop. Not here. They are on you, biting you as you walk along.

I practically ran and got there in 2 hours. Growler recorded me getting in my tent…

Ridiculous.

We ended up camping with Ladies Man, Crunchmaster, Concrete and Face. More people than we have camped with in a long time!!